Hello, this is Saori Kobayashi. I worked at Sega for 4 years, and then became a freelance music composer working on games, song arrangements, educational music arrangement, song composition, piano teaching and other music-related jobs. In 2003, I formed my own band unit, AKANE, which I’ve been earnestly doing since then.
Recently, I’ve been working with Brave Wave Productions and making music with them. This relationship originated when I was working on the music for Crimson Dragon on Xbox One. I knew people from the dev team since my days working on Panzer Dragoon Saga and Orta. The director of Orta was one of them, and he introduced me to another person who had been at Land Ho (co-dev of Crimson Dragon) Alex, who is now Brave Wave’s CEO.
In the summer of 2013, Alex introduced me to the director of Koopa Soundworks (now Brave Wave), Mohammed. I heard that he wanted to get in touch with me because I had done the soundtracks for Panzer Dragoon and wanted me to make a new song, and Alex was kind enough to translate. This project ended up being the album In Flux. Mohammed showed me the concept of the album, which I found very appealing, and was happy to work with him.
That was a tough time of year for me, but I was able to make a song I was satisfied with called Shattered Moon. Mohammed and Alex were very happy with what I created. And after that, somehow they came to me with talks of creating a solo album without me even asking. This was something to welcome.
I’ve been involved in game music for a long time, and I hear that people from outside Japan are supportive of my work as well. Working with Brave Wave allows me to make music aimed at those audiences, widen my horizons and get in touch with those people directly. This is quite an exciting thing to be a part of, and I’m moved by how wonderful this all is. I am really thankful to Brave Wave for this opportunity.
By the way, my band, AKANE, is also in the middle of making a new album. We are doing our best, so I hope Brave Wave staff and listeners enjoy what we create. For the time being, you can listen to a snippet of Pirika from our next album, previewed earlier by Mohammed in this blog.
I’m looking forward to connecting more with listeners from outside of Japan. Thank you so much!